Behind Blue Eyes: The Good The Bad & The Blood Page 19

  Chapter 26

  Joe and Arben came to, only to find they were naked, tied to chairs, with gags in their mouths. Cain walked over and wrapped duct tape tightly about each of their faces. Billy was on the floor, blood seeping from his neck, and his body in spasm. Cain picked a cleaver up from the nearby sink then slowly walked over to Billy. He grabbed hold of his left hand. “You should never have put your filthy hands on her,” he said quietly as he brought the cleaver down.

  Billy screamed an endless sound.

  Cain threw water over Joe and Arben. They shook their heads and tried to yell.

  “My apologies about the gags, gentlemen, but we wouldn’t want to disturb the neighbors with your noise.” Cain smiled at them. “This is going to get rough, just how you like it.” He walked behind Arben and whispered, “I’m saving the best for last. I hope you will be impressed.”

  Cain went over to Joe and placed one of Billy’s hands on his knee, and then he did the same to Arben before he casually walked over to the stove and began to heat a pot of water. He stood patiently waiting until it boiled. Joe and Arben watched him, terror on their faces, sweat beads dotting their foreheads, tears and snot wetting the gags. He poured the boiling water over Joe’s head and watched him thrashing about in pain, muffled screams filling the room. He watched as Arben squeezed his eyes tightly shut.

  “Now, now, we cannot have you missing any of this, especially when the show is for your eyes only.” Cain ripped Arben’s eyelids off and licked his finger before he ran it across the wounds. His saliva would stop the bleeding; nothing was going to prevent this one from watching him torture the other. Next he plugged in the table lamp, making sure the power was on. He ripped the cable out and stabbed the end in Joe’s left eye.

  Joe’s eye began to smolder. His body almost came out of the chair as it bounced violently up and down before he passed out.

  Cain shook his head as he watched Arben lose control and piss himself.

  He then plugged in the electric iron and waited for Joe to regain consciousness. He smiled at Joe as he came to. “Ready for round two?” He placed the hot iron on Joe’s chest, the man’s body convulsing all the time as he screamed soundlessly. Cain stared at Arben as the room filled with the smell of burning flesh. He heard Joe’s heart stop, and he removed the iron.

  “Well, my friend, he did not last very long, did he?” Cain paused and tilted his head. Have I gone too far? No, with what these two do to young girls every day, nothing is too far. “I hope you have a stronger heart than your friend did. There are a lot more games I want to play with you.”

  Arben was petrified as Cain walked over to him. He was shaking his head, and muffled screams were trying their best to escape the gag. Cain just smiled.

  He took a step back. I’m enjoying this. This isn’t right. Normal people don’t do this. I should just kill him and get it over with. But as he moved closer to Arben, Mia’s face flashed in front of him. What if they had got hold of her? What would they have done to my little girl? His hands began to tremble. He took in a loud, slow breath through his nostrils.

  He held a spoon up in front of Arben. “Do you know what I am going to do with this?” He slowly circled Arben’s left eye before jamming the spoon into the socket and removing his eyeball. Arben thrashed about, his muffled screams seeming to bounce off the walls. “You don’t need these now the show is over. Besides, I am going to be a bit more inventive with you.” Cain scooped out his other eye. Arben began to vomit. Cain quickly removed his gag. “You don’t get out of it that easy. After all, you like power games.”

  When Arben stopped vomiting, he took up shrilling. “Please, stop. Why are you doing this? I can give you money. Please!”

  Cain hissed. “How many girls begged you to stop? How many did you send to their death?” He replaced the gag. He picked up the live electric cables and stabbed them into Arben’s genitals. Naturally Arben collapsed into unconsciousness. Cain waited for him to come around. Next, he took the razor from the bathroom and slowly began to remove the skin from both of Arben’s legs. Arben passed out again. Cain plugged the iron back in and waited.

  He kept the image of Mia, hurt, tied, gagged, and terrified, in mind.

  “You were so right about the power you have over your victim. Especially when they are tied up and you are beating the crap out of them. It is truly an amazing experience.”

  Arben was convulsing, going in and out of consciousness. Cain waited for the man’s heart rate to slow before he started again, considering his actions, secretly horrified at himself, that he was capable of such barbarism. While he was still human, during the war, he had stood by and watched interrogations, and on occasion taken part in some. He had watched people being tortured for information, seen some of them die because they wouldn’t answer the questions, or didn’t know the answers. He had thought he would never get used to the methods, but they soon became normal; it was what you had to do in times of war, to save your country, to defeat the enemy. Was he a monster back then too?

  Taz was outside talking to the old woman. They started to make their way up the stairs. Quickly, Cain cut Arben’s abdomen open and watched his intestines fall to the floor. He put all three bodies on the couch and went to wait behind the front door. He heard Taz say goodnight, and he heard the door close. His heartbeat seemed to match Taz’s every step as she got closer.

  Taz opened the door and, as she entered, Cain appeared in front of her. She opened her mouth to scream but he curled his fingers in her hair and yanked his arm so that her head recoiled against the wall. He dragged her into the apartment and clamped his hand over her mouth. “If you scream, I will kill you! Do you understand?” Taz nodded. He pointed her in the direction of the living room.

  Confronted with the sight of three murdered men, she quickly put her hands over her mouth to muffle her sounds. They dropped away when she realized the full extent of the horror. “Oh, Billy,” she whimpered through her crying and uncontrollable shaking.

  Cain pointed his finger at her. “Now, what should we do with you?” He sat on the couch next to the dead men.

  Taz stuttered, “Where’s Mia? What have you done with her?”

  Cain hissed, his narrowed eyes turning black. “How dare you speak her name? You are the one who offered her to the wolves! Now you pretend to care about her?”

  Taz cowered. “I had no choice. They weren’t going to kill her.”

  “There is always a choice, and you know damned well what her fate was going to be.”

  He jumped up, grabbed her by her throat, and forced his fingers between her lips. “I won’t listen to you try and justify what you did. You are a self-centered bitch who only cares about yourself.”

  Her head shook violently as he grabbed her tongue. When he yanked his hand up quickly, the blood splashed his face. When her eyes rolled back in her head, he slapped her face. She stared at something in front of her. Even as her tongue came into focus in his fingers, she tried to scream.

  He planted his hand over her mouth with a dull thud. He then licked the blood splatter from his lips. “Take a good look at them.” He turned his head in the direction of the bodies. “This is what I could do to you. I could spend hours torturing you until you beg me to end it, but I am feeling generous.” He smiled. Her body was shaking violently and there was no color in her skin. That made the river of blood pouring from her mouth more vivid. “I am going to kill you quickly.”

  Taz watched as Cain shuddered. He leaned his head back and his mouth began to open….

  Chapter 27

  Mia got in the car, slammed the door shut and locked it. With her fingers clenched around the steering wheel she planted her foot on the gas. The car screeched, wheels spinning, before the tires gripped the road and she accelerated away. She felt as if she were not there: no feelings, no memories, blackness only interrupted by the bright lights from passing cars. Somehow, though, she made it home without incident.

  Jess was asleep when she heard the
doorbell ringing over and over again. She switched on the bedside light and looked at the clock. “Midnight? This better be important,” she grumbled. Pulling on her bathrobe, she headed out of her bedroom. “I’m coming! Hold on!” She was at the top of the stairs when the doorbell rang again.

  When she opened the door she felt her body go limp. “Mia, oh, my God! What happened? Were you mugged?”

  Mia threw her arms around Jess; her body was trembling, her chest heaving in and out with the heavy sobs.

  Jess held on to her, tears welling up. “It’s okay, honey. It’ll be okay,” she crooned. “Just tell me what happened.”

  “They...Billy and Taz….” she stuttered, her voice barely recognizable to herself.

  Jess gently started edging indoors. “Come on. Let’s get you settled.”

  She helped Mia sit down. But when she saw the large black bruises around Mia’s neck, she gasped. “Who did this to you?” She pulled Mia closer.

  “Men. Billy and Taz helped.” The sobbing intensified as Mia drew her legs up under her chin and started swaying back and forth.

  Jess picked up the phone. “I’m calling the police.”

  Mia screamed, “No!” and her hand went to her throat as she tried to swallow.

  Jess stared at her daughter in disbelief.

  “Cain…. He helped me. I can’t get him involved.”

  But Jess shook her head. “Someone’s assaulted you. You need medical attention, and we need to inform the police.”

  Mia jumped up and grabbed her mother’s arm, her bloodshot eyes crazy wide. “No, no.

  You don’t understand. Don’t call them, please.” After a moment, she continued in a low rough voice, “Not his fault. It was Taz and Billy.”

  “Okay, calm down. Let’s just go to the hospital and make sure you are…”

  Mia flung her arms around her mother, holding on to her tightly. “I don’t want anyone touching me. No questions. It wasn’t his fault.”

  “All right. You’re safe now.” Jess stroked Mia’s hair. “What wasn’t his fault?”

  Mia started to sob again. Jess got her a glass of cool milk to help sooth her throat. At three a.m. she finally got Mia settled in bed. Questions would have to wait until morning. Maybe then she could get more out of her daughter.

  At eight thirty a.m. Jess got out of bed and called the hospital to let them know she wouldn’t be in for a few days, then went up to see Mia. She was gone.

  Jess was frantic and she ran around shouting her name. When she called Mia’s phone after searching every room in the house, and the garden, after a couple of rings Mia answered.

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m visiting Angel, Mom. I need to be alone for a while.”

  “I’m so worried. Did you sleep at all?”

  “Not really. I tried but… Can we talk about this later? I don’t want…. I mean, I can’t. I’ll be home soon. Promise.”

  The phone went dead. Jess could only stare at it. Her daughter had been through so much as a child. What the hell was going on now? Someone had tried to strangle her and she wouldn’t talk about it? Jess was at her wits’ end.

  ***

  “Angel, I don’t know what’s happening to me. I think I’m going mad,” Mia said out loud.

  Cain closed his eyes, feeling her pain. Mia looked terrible, her skin too pale and fresh dark shadows under her bloodshot eyes. This is all my fault. He stepped out from behind the trees so she could see him. “Hello, Mia.”

  Mia was startled. “Cain! What are you doing here?”

  He walked toward her, but she stepped back.

  He stopped, slowly shaking his head. “Please, don’t be afraid of me, Mia. I would never hurt you.”

  She wrapped her arms around herself. “Did you really kill Billy?” she whispered. Cain just looked at her. “Was I imagining that? I saw you rip his throat open with your teeth, or am I crazy?”

  A single tear fell from her right eye.

  Cain watched the tear as it rolled down her face.

  “He deserved to die.”

  She swiped her fingers across her cheek. “You killed him! You killed him just like that!”

  “Yes.” His voice was emotionless.

  “What about the rest of them?” She was shaking, trying not to fall apart.

  “Do not worry about them. You are safe now.”

  “Am I? You killed them all, didn’t you?” She saw the pain her words caused him, but right at that moment she didn’t care. She didn’t know who he was any more, if she had ever really known him at all.

  He stood there staring at her, wondering if he should tell her what they had planned for her. Could she handle this on top of everything else? “Mia, please, don’t do this. You have no idea….”

  “Then explain. Explain to me why you killed them. Tell me what was going on. I need to know the truth, Cain. I am sick of the lies. And Taz? Did you kill her?”

  “Your friends, Billy and Taz, sold you to those two men. They wanted a buyer for a virgin. That virgin was you, and when the buyer had finished with you they would….” He turned his back on her.

  “What would they have done with me?” Her voice was now higher pitched.

  “You would have been shipped abroad as a sex slave. You would have been drugged, abused and, eventually, you would have been killed. You would have been raped and beaten God knows how many times a day. You would not have survived long.”

  She sat down and put her head in her hands “You bought me to stop them.”

  “Yes.” He turned to face her but instead he looked at the ground, unable to bring himself to look at her pain. He should have just killed them all at the very start.

  She stood up, again, her eye narrowed as she stared at him. “Why didn’t you go to the police, or warn me?”

  “I’m sorry. I had to be sure you were safe. I told you not to go back to the apartment, that you were in danger.”

  “You should have given me a better explanation! I only went back to pick up some clothes. That doesn’t explain why you didn’t go to the police, why you killed them all. What kind of person are you?”

  “I can’t explain.”

  “Well, you had better try. I don’t know who I should be more afraid of, you or the perverts out there.”

  He put his hands out and started to walk toward her. She backed further away.

  “Stop right there, don’t come any closer.”

  Cain looked like his whole world had just come crashing down. His eyes were dead, they had lost the spark that she adored. He looked away from her.

  She wasn’t sure, but she thought he might start to cry. “For God’s sake, Cain, you killed four people!” Her head jerk backward as her forehead creased. “Or is it five. You killed Phil, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, I killed the one who was hurting you, scaring you. Mia, do you remember how scared you were, what he did to you?”

  She was shaking and crying. “I don’t want to hear any more. Please, just go away.”

  He wanted to hold her, tell her everything was all right, but now she was scared of him, and she wasn’t that little girl any more. He would have to tell her the truth and hope she didn’t hate him. “Mia, I am a monster. My kind has been hated since time began. I do not want you to hate me. I don’t want you to be frightened of me. I could never hurt you. I just want you to know one thing. Your safety is all that matters to me.”

  “What do you mean, ‘your kind’?”

  “I live as many others like me do. We live off the blood of humans. Most of us do not kill for food, but we are born killers. I do not regret killing those who hurt you.”

  “What are you talking about? What are you?”

  “I am a vampire. I was born in 1917.” She would either believe him or think him mad.

  She grabbed the pendant from around her neck and threw it at him. “I don’t ever want to see you again.” He put his hand out toward her. “Don’t touch me! Now you’re trying to tell me you’re Count F
ucking Dracula? Stay the hell away from me, do you understand? Whatever this is, it’s over.”

  She turned and ran. She just needed to get home as fast as she could. She could not allow herself to look back, or to see the hurt in his eyes. Her heart was broken, betrayed. The only man she ever trusted had turned out to be more dangerous than anyone she had ever met.

  He watched her go. This is how Helena must have felt when she lost the most important person in her life, but he was not in love with Mia, was he? He did not know any more. All he knew was he had hurt her and for that he would suffer.

  When Mia reached the house, she stopped to get her breath. She needed to pull herself together before she went in, before she faced her mother. What the hell is going on with him? He must be a complete madman! And he drinks the blood of humans? Is that why he never seems to age? Oh, come on, that’s ridiculous! There’s no such thing as vampires! But he had been her protector when she needed him most….

  She was so confused. Once inside the house, she ran up the stairs and straight to her bedroom.

  Jess came in after her. “Are you all right? What’s going on?”

  “Please, Mom. Can I have some time alone? I need to think.”

  Jess went downstairs. She sat at the kitchen table, listening to her daughter’s distress and feeling helpless. She was unable to help until Mia opened up to her about what had happened.

  Jess put her hand over her mouth and quietly sobbed.

  Mia cried herself to sleep. When she woke a couple of hours later, the pendant was on her table with a letter. How the hell did he get in my room without waking me? Great, he’s freaking me out again. She sat with the letter in her hand for ages before she could open it.

  Mia

  Please forgive me. My intentions were never to hurt you or scare you. Since the day I met you as a little girl all I wanted was to protect you.

  I never wanted you to know the truth about me.

  You will not see me again, if that is your wish. But I beg of you, wear the pendant. Then I will know if you are safe.

  Cain

  She looked at the pendant. What did it matter if he was mad? He had been nothing but her savior. He had given her Angel. She put the chain around her neck. He was a killer, but he would never hurt her. Never. So would he do as she asked, and stay away?